Ferd Lewis: Hawaii’s basketball schedule presents all risk and little reward

Guard Eddie Stansberry’s best night of the season saved the University of Hawaii basketball team from what surely would have been its most ignominious one.

It took all of Stansberry’s career-high 26 points — the most by a Rainbow Warrior this season — on 9-for-17 shooting (six of 12 from 3-point range) to help stave off travel-worn Alabama A&M 71-63 Saturday night.

The ’Bows’ final nonconference game of the regular season against a team that came in 1-11 was remarkably still in doubt until the final 45 seconds, a stunning turn of events that left the meager Stan Sheriff Center gathering of 2,790 gasping in disbelief.

Only when UH made good on five of six free-throw attempts in the last 21 seconds did the ’Bows lock down their ninth victory against five losses.

It made you wonder anew why UH insists on playing these Southwestern Athletic Conference teams, a lot that includes Mississippi Valley State of earlier this season as well as Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Prairie View, etc. of past years.

With two Division II opponents on the schedule every year (UH Hilo and Humboldt State earlier this season), how many cupcakes do you really need? Especially when they don’t bring out much of a crowd or the best from the home team.

With a little imagination and fortitude you wonder if UH could have had Texas Christian booked this week instead. TCU wanted to stick around after the DHC and pick up a game, ending up with Hawaii Pacific until the tragic death of the Sharks’ Emil Isovic prompted cancellation.

While Hawaii would have been underdogs against the Horned Frogs, it would have been a much better draw at the box office and, you figure, a more inspiring matchup for the players before opening up Big West Conference play Jan. 9.

Whether the ’Bows were still coasting Saturday after a 2-1 showing in the Diamond Head Classic or playing down to a team that hasn’t had a winning season in more than a decade, the result was they struggled early and often against the Bulldogs’ zone defense.

If not for Stansberry, who made like the Bowzooka from 3-point range, the ’Bows, who trailed by as many as eight points in the first half, would not have managed a 34-all tie at halftime.

The Bulldogs, who have played in eight states in their search for paychecks, belied one of the worst 3-point shooting resumes in Division I (318th among 351 teams at 29.5 percent ) by making good on eight of 14 3-pointers in the first half. They returned to form in a 2-for-12 second half.

Stansberry, meanwhile, made good on six of nine first-half field-goal attempts — including four of five from 3-point range. At one point he had more field goals than the rest of the ’Bows combined.

When the Bulldogs closed to 63-61 with 1:48 left in the game after a 9-0 run, it was Stansberry, with some rebounding and passing help from Jack Purchase, who gave UH some momentary breathing room with a three-point play.

With it, the ’Bows avoided — but only barely — ending 2018 on a sour note. Here’s hoping that will help prompt a 2019 New Year’s resolution of no longer making SWAC teams a regular feature on future schedules.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.